‘Missing mass’ of the big bang found?

Published: 18 June 2011(GMT+10)

Image Wikipedia.org

We have received numerous questions regarding recent reports that astronomers have
found the ‘missing mass’ predicted by the big bang. CMI’s
Dr Jonathan Sarfati responds (a typical enquiry is given as an example). Then he responds to Matthew F. about how to handle pressure from aggressive atheopaths.

Jeb S. from the United States writes

Have evolutionist answered the missing mass problem? Also are we really seeing new
stars form, and how if creation is already done?

As we have often cautioned, what the media say and what the science actually shows
are often quite different.

As we have often cautioned, what the media say and what the science actually shows
are often quite different. And universities want to attract research funding, so
have an incentive to blow their own trumpets.

As most of the reports said, this is not even a claim about dark matter (cf.
Has ‘dark matter’ really been proven?). Monash astrophysicist
and supervisor of this project, Dr Kevin Pimbblet, said:

Baryons are locally 2–3% of critical density and they observe 4–6% at
high redshift (z): i.e. about half as much baryon mass is observed at low z (hence
‘missing’) compared to high z. At high z it is observed in the hot (about
a million degrees Celsius) X-ray emitting hydrogen-rich matter in the intergalactic
medium (IGM). It has been speculated that is in the cold IGM at the current epoch.

This is one of many problems for big bang cosmology, but supposedly this young intern
Amelia Fraser-McKelvie solved it. She used archived data from ROSAT (Röntgensatellit,
a now-defunct German X-ray satellite telescope), and X-ray astronomy expert Dr Jasmina
Lazendic-Galloway worked out they had found galactic filaments. Their paper, which
has been accepted, is: Fraser-McKelvie, A., Pimbblet, K.A. and Lazendic, J.S.,
An estimate of the electron density in filaments of galaxies at z~0.1.

“Most of the baryons in the Universe are thought to be contained within filaments
of galaxies, but as yet, no single study has published the observed properties of
a large sample of known filaments to determine typical physical characteristics
such as temperature and electron density. This paper presents a comprehensive large-scale
search conducted for X-ray emission from a population of 41 bona fide filaments
of galaxies to determine their X-ray flux and electron density. The sample is generated
from Pimbblet et al.’s (2004) filament catalogue, which is in turn sourced
from the 2º Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS). Since the filaments are
expected to be very faint and of very low density, we used stacked ROSAT All-Sky
Survey data. We detect a net surface brightness from our sample of filaments of
(1.6 ± 0.1) x 10-4 erg cm-2 s-1 arcmin-2
in the 0.9-1.3 keV energy band for 1 keV plasma, which implies an electron density
of ne = (4.7 ± 0.2) x 10-4 h100 ½
cm-3. Finally, we examine if a filament’s membership to a supercluster
leads to an enhanced electron density as reported by Kull & Bohringer (1999).
We suggest it remains unclear if supercluster membership causes such an enhancement.”

I’d like to go ahead and say that your website has helped me strengthen my
Christian faith greatly and debate atheists more effectively. I live in a rural
area of America, one that’s heavily Christian, but the internet and college
has exposed me to atheism and the New Atheist movement. Two of my best friends now
declare themselves members of this movement and I’ve heard and read things
so vulgar and shocking that my own family doesn’t believe such things are
being said.

It’s been so pressuring that it’s really tempted me to turn away from
Christ on numerous occasions, but I’m growing stronger in my Christian faith
as time goes on and I learn more and more.

Anyways, I do have a few questions, which I can’t seem to find on this website
(I may have overlooked them). One question, which I ask to atheists I debate and
I’ve yet to get a convincing answer from them….why does believing in
atheism matter? Why does a complete atheist world matter?

I get a wide variety of answers, mostly saying it promotes knowledge and fun in
life. Someone even said it would greatly enhance my future writing/history career,
but when I asked how it would specifically enhance it, I received the “you’ll
be a free thinker” answer.

However (my answer), it doesn’t matter at all! In their view, life and the
universe is an accident and worthless, and the universe will eventually be destroyed,
so everything is ultimately worthless. So the question again, why does being an
atheist matter and how does an atheist world (like the New Atheist promote) matter?

That’s the question and my answer to it, but just wondering how you all would
answer it?

The next question comes from a common response I hear from the above question. “Atheism
allows us to hunt and obtain the ultimate knowledge.”

After hearing this a few times, I began to wonder if this is a major gimmick in
the movement, but I’ve not heard Dawkins or any other leader talk of it, though
they talk about atheism being the sign of a healthy mind.

The way my atheist friends talk of this “ultimate knowledge” is what
it says…the knowledge of everything! I’ve been told that simply giving
up my faith will set me on the path to obtaining that knowledge, possibly within
my life time. I find it sounding like a sci-fi novel plot to be honest (Being a
writer myself, it has inspired me as well). Have you all heard anything about this
“ultimate knowledge” gimmick from this movement or is it just something
that my friends are saying?

One final thing to close out this feedback. A friend recently debated me, and he
got on saying that Christopher Hitchens says that deathbed conversions to religion
were inappropriate, and that Sam Harris says Christian morality was psychopathic.
I like to touch on the morality issue.

I’ve been hammered by atheists, who attack two areas. They say being a Christian
limits fun in life (mainly sex and alcohol to them). The other is they claim being
a Christian makes you a psychopath. I was once told, “Believing in God means
you will pick up an Ak-47 and kill people.”…yet, when I responded,
“How does me being taught to love and forgive everyone mean that I’ll
murder?”, I was met with a hateful, “Don’t you dare take this
a personal level!”

Overall, I’ve noticed taking the whole morality issue to the personal individual
level really makes atheists mad it seems. But, I do wonder what you take on the
whole “deathbed conversions are inappropriate” and “Christian
morality is psychopathic” issues.

As I’ve said, your website has helped strengthen my faith greatly, as well
as debates. The things I’ve learned on here are a lot more helpful and effective
than my former theistic evolutionist views, which were horribly ineffective. I have
been recommending your website to my friends, praying it aids them as well. I look
forward to your response!

First of all, in response to “It’s been so pressuring that it’s
really tempted me to turn away from Christ on numerous occasions”, the Bible
tells us to flee temptation. This
outside article contains good advice, I think. Meanwhile, make sure you
are equipped to deal with the “new atheists”; they really have little
of substance. For example, our site links to a
point-by-point refutation of Sam Harris.

“Atheism allows us to hunt and obtain the ultimate knowledge.” It also
allows us to be totally indifferent. But historically, it was the
biblical world view that encouraged the growth of science, while it was
stillborn in cultures lacking this world view.

Biblical rules (as opposed to some church legalism) are for our good.

Biblical rules (as opposed to some church legalism) are for our good. Read the
Song of Solomon for a healthy view of courtship, marriage and sex.

Superficial fun like drunkenness and promiscuity is fleeting and damaging in the
long term.

Further Reading

We support belief in an intelligent designer—the God of the Bible. This site was also ‘intelligently designed’. But rather than six days, it’s taken thousands of days. Help us design more information for this site. Support this site

Comments closed

A reader’s comment

Paul F.,Australia

Regarding the personal attacks of the rampant atheist, this is not uncommon. It shows how flimsy their arguments really are and also that ultimately behind their beliefs is a satanic influence.

It shows you scored a direct hit! Pray for them that God would use that event to sway them.